Gareth Edwards will direct Godzilla!

January 5, 2011 - By Liam Goodwin

You may or may not have come across a small movie called Monsters over the past few months. It was written, cinematographed and directed by British filmmaker Gareth Edwards with a budget of less than $500,000, but has gone on to make over $1.5 million from various screenings and festivals. It also has positive reviews which, along with good buzz, has landed Mr. Edwards a rather big Warner Bros. project.

Gareth Edwards, the British filmmaker who wrote and directed indie sci-fi movie Monsters, is closing a deal to develop and direct Godzilla for Legendary Pictures, the company that helped produce blockbusters such as Inception and The Dark Knight.

Warner Bros. will co-produce, co-finance and distribute per its deal with Legendary. Legendary picked up the rights to the giant lizard from Japan’s Toho Co. in March 2010. It was around that time that Edwards’ Monsters made its premiere at SXSW before moving on to the Toronto International Film Festival and a U.S. release by Magnet Releasing in October.

Edwards will now work with a new yet-to-hired writer on the script. (David Callaham was the original writer.

This will be quite a leap for the director, going from less than $500,000 for his first movie to $150 million+ for a major 3D tentpole. Last year producer Brian Rogers said they intend to reboot Godzilla in a similar fashion Legendary Pictures rebooted the Batman franchise, and they are aiming for a 2012 release.

You can watch the trailer for Monsters below, and read Filmonic’s review here!